Next stop not New York

There's lies, damned lies, and Ryanair press releases

ON MARCH 16th, Ryanair announced to the world that it was planning to offer transatlantic flights. In a statement it revealed:

The board of Ryanair have approved the business plans for future growth, including transatlantic. We are talking to manufacturers about long-haul aircraft but cannot comment further on this. European consumers want lower-cost travel to the USA and the same for Americans coming to Europe. We see it as a logical development in the European market.

That seemed pretty unequivocal. And reporters, including this one, duly mulled over what such a move might mean—particularly given that the world's largest airline by international passengers has frequently boasted that it wants to shake up the market between Europe and North America by, for example, offering flights for €10 ($11).
Alas someone at the airline seems to have jumped the gun. In a brief statement released to the London Stock Exchange yesterday, the carrier rapidly backtracked:

In the light of recent press coverage, the Board of Ryanair Holdings Plc wishes to clarify that it has not considered or approved any transatlantic project and does not intend to do so.

We are all used to taking statements by the carrier with a pinch of salt. Michael O'Leary, the airline's abrasive boss, often makes wild pronouncements—that he plans to make passengers pay to use the toilets on his aircraft, say, or introduce a standing section. Mostly these tend to be about publicity-seeking rather than firm planning. Even so, this latest climbdown seems very strange.

One theory, as we noted in our earlier article, is that while Ryanair is indeed keen to start flying the Atlantic, it is reluctant to do so under its own brand because of the antipathy with which it is held by many European travellers. The Irish Independent suggests that it therefore might prefer to take a majority stake in a new enterprise, or perhaps launch a subsidiary. Hence the confusion in the earlier statement. If there is a lesson, it is that, despite the good copy that Ryanair affords travel commentators, nothing it says should ever be taken as gospel.